Merkel reportedly gets NSA-proof phone with chip costing 2.5k euros

German Chancellor Angela Merkel can finally hold phone talks with no fear of being tapped by foreign agents, as she now has a secure, German-upgraded Blackberry, Bild reports. Merkel’s contacts now need to install a 2,500 euro crypto-chip to talk to her.

While the German federal prosecutor is investigating the alleged tapping of the
chancellor’s phone, exposed by former US National Security Agency
(NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, Merkel has been looking for ways
to get her privacy back.

About a year after Snowden’s leaks published by SPIEGEL, which
stated the NSA was spying on some 500 million German communications
every month, including up to 20 million telephone calls and 10
million internet data exchanges a day, German media reported that
the country’s leader had ensured she is no longer on the snooping
list.

According to Bild.de, Merkel has acquired a BlackBerry device
with a crypto-chip developed by Dusseldorf-based company
Secusmart. Choosing between a classic BlackBerry design and a
touch screen variety, she reportedly picked the Q10 model with
keyboard.

The Chancellor had to wait for a year for her new phone to be
made, German media said.

The new phone was probably worth the wait, though: it encrypts
all voice calls, as well as all internet communications and short
messages within a government intranet, to which it is said to be
connected via a highly secure VPN connection. Private calls can
also be encrypted with Secusmart technology.

There is one catch, however: to establish a secure connection,
the recipient of the call must also have a device with a
crypto-chip. These don’t come cheap, costing 2,500 euro (3,400 US
dollars) each. Apparently, the entire German government will now
have to stump up extra in the name of security.

Merkel is not the only world leader in the BlackBerry club –
ironically, US President Barack Obama is also a long-time
BlackBerry fan. It is now unclear, however, which of the two have
a more secure modification of the Canadian phone.